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WEEKEND EDITION: Pretty lousy weekend weather here, good day to play radio hamsters.....Special event in VA....Solar Cycle update.....How not to photo a tug launching.....General Motors made an unexpected electric-vehicle announcement, saying it is is building a battery plant with Korea-based LG Chem. It is a little like a Tesla Giga factory, GM style....and today's dumbass....

Foundations of Amateur Radio

The massive physics phenomenon just over eight minutes away ...

If you've been around radio amateurs for a little while you're likely to have heard about the Solar Cycle and that it affects radio propagation for HF or High Frequency, also known as shortwave communications. The frequencies in the range of around 3 to 30 MHz, or 100m to 10m wavelength. One of the main ways it's used is for is for long distance or global communication and one of the most common ways that's done is using the ionosphere around the globe to refract a radio signal.

In September 2020, the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, announced that Solar Cycle 25 had commenced in December 2019 and radio amateurs around the globe rejoiced.

The first question for me was, why Solar Cycle 25?

You might think of the Sun as a stable light in the sky. As it happens, the bright light hides all manner of ferocious activity. One of the measures of this activity is the number of dots observed on the surface of our Star. These dots are called sunspots. As Solar activity increases, the number of sunspots increases. The activity is cyclical, it increases and decreases over time. Each increase and decrease combined is known as a Solar Cycle.

On average a cycle lasts about 10.7 years. Simple maths gives you that Solar Cycles started somewhere around 1750. That seems a little strange. Our Sun is 4.6 billion years old. There are paintings on the rocks at Ubirr in the Northern Territory of Australia that are 40 thousand years old. The pyramids in Egypt are 45 hundred years old. The Solar Cycle has been going for a lot longer than the 7 million years there have been humans on the planet, let alone dinosaurs who experienced the Solar Cycle 66 million years ago. Using fossil records we've determined that the Solar Cycle has been stable for at least the last 700 million years.

Chinese astronomers recorded Solar activity around 800 BC and Chinese and Korean astronomers frequently observed sunspots but no known drawings exist of these observations. The first person to draw sunspots was John of Worcester on the 8th of December 1128. Five days later, half a world away in Korea on the 13th of December 1128, the astronomers in Songdo reported a red vapour that "soared and filled the sky", describing the aurora borealis in the night sky that resulted from those very same sunspots.

In the early 1600's there was plenty of activity around the recording of sunspots. Thomas Harriot appears to have predated Galileo Galilei by more than a year with notes and drawings dated the 8th of December 1610. There's plenty of other names during this period, Father and son David and Johannes Fabricius and Christoph Scheiner to name three, but I'm moving on.

The Solar Cycle, was first described by Christian Horrebow who more than a century later in 1775 wrote: "it appears that after the course of a certain number of years, the appearance of the Sun repeats itself with respect to the number and size of the spots". Recognition of the Solar Cycle was awarded to Samuel Heinrich Schwabe who noticed the regular variation in the number of sunspots and published his findings in a short article entitled "Solar Observations during 1843" in which he suggested that the cycle was 10 years.

Stay with me, we're getting close to Solar Cycle number One.

In 1848 Rudolf Wolf devised a way to quantify sunspot activity. His method, named the Wolf number, is still in use today, though we call it the relative or international sunspot number. In 1852 he published his findings on all the available data on sunspot activity going back to 1610 and calculated the average Solar Cycle duration as 11.11 years. He didn't have enough observations to reliably identify Solar Cycles before 1755, so the 1755-1766 Solar Cycle is what we now consider Solar Cycle number One lasting 11.3 years with a maximum of 144.1 sunspots in June of 1761.

Until 2009 it was thought that there had been 28 Solar Cycles between 1699 and 2008 with an average duration of 11.04 years, but it appears that the 15 year Solar Cycle between 1784 and 1799 was actually two cycles, making the average length only 10.7 years. I should also point out that there have been Solar Cycles as short as 8 years and as long as 14 years.

With the announcement of Solar Cycle 25 comes improved propagation for anyone who cares to get on air and make noise. The current predictions vary depending on the method used, ranging from a very weak to a moderate Solar Cycle 25. There are predictions for the Solar maximum, the time with the most sunspot activity, to occur between 2023 and 2026 with a sunspot range between 95 and 130. By comparison during the previous Solar Cycle, in 2011 the first peak hit 99 and the second peak in 2014 hit 101.

I have purposely stayed away from electromagnetic fields, geomagnetic impacts and the actual methods for HF propagation, I'll look at those another time.

I can tell you that we've gone a little beyond counting dots on the Sun to determine activity and we have a whole slew of satellites orbiting our Star doing all manner of scientific discovery, all of which helps our understanding of what's going on in the massive physics phenomenon 8 minutes and 20 seconds away by radio.

That said, Solar eruptions are still pretty unpredictable, much like the weather around us. Not because we don't want to know, but because this is a very complex one to solve, much like ionospheric propagation is hard to forecast, much easier to measure actual performance and much more accurate.

So, if you want to know how well propagation is going to be today, turn on your radio and have a listen. If you want to know how great it's going to be tomorrow, look at the forecast, but bring an umbrella, or an FT8 transmitter.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Astronomers detect new frequencies from mysterious fast radio bursts

The mystery of fast radio bursts (FRBs) from space may be a step closer to being solved. Astronomers studying a repeating signal from a nearby galaxy have detected radiation at the lowest frequency of any FRB found so far, providing new potential hints about their origin.

FRBs are exactly what they sound like – bursts of radio signals that only last milliseconds. Ever since they were first detected over a decade ago, they’ve poured in from all corners of the sky, with each detection either deepening the mystery or bringing new clues about what might be causing them – or sometimes both at once.

Some of them are one-off events, while others appear to repeat either randomly or on a predictable schedule. Studying the radio waves they give off provides other hints about the environment they’re being produced in – some appear to come from calm settings, while other signals are being twisted and polarized in a way that suggests interference by powerful magnetic fields.

Now, in a pair of studies, astronomers have detected new details that may contribute to solving the mystery. Both focused on a signal called FRB 180916, first detected in 2018 and traced back to a galaxy just 500 million light-years away. It repeats like clockwork on a 16-day cycle, chirping actively for four days before falling quiet for the next 12.

In the first study, astronomers examined the object with two different radio telescopes – CHIME in Canada, which is regularly used to study FRBs, and the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) in the Netherlands. With the latter, the team detected 18 bursts at frequencies between 110 and 188 MHz, far lower than any seen from FRBs before.

“We detected fast radio bursts down to 110 MHz where before these bursts were only known to exist down to 300 MHz,” says Ziggy Pleunis, lead author of the study. “This tells us that the region around the source of the bursts must be transparent to low-frequency emission, whereas some theories suggested that all low-frequency emission would be absorbed right away and could never be detected.”

Intriguingly, the team also noticed a significant delay between frequencies. The higher frequencies consistently arrived at CHIME three days before the lower ones were detected by LOFAR.

"At different times we see radio bursts with different radio frequencies,” says Jason Hessels, co-author of the study. “Possibly the FRB is part of a binary star. If so, we would have a different view at different times of where these enormously powerful bursts are generated.”

In the second study, another team of astronomers examined FRB 180916 in higher “time resolution” than ever before, taking measurements more regularly than other studies. They found that the polarization of the bursts varied from one microsecond to the next, which they hypothesize could be the influence of a “dancing” magnetosphere, such as that around a neutron star.

That adds weight to the leading theory about where FRBs come from: magnetars, a type of neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field. The clearest smoking gun came last year when FRB-like signals were detected coming from a magnetar in our own galaxy.

The more we study these strange signals, the more likely it is that we’ll stumble onto a clue that unravels the whole mystery. The researchers say that it's possible that FRBs transmit at even lower frequencies at which they haven't been studied yet, and future work will try to detect these.

The LOFAR study was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, while the time resolution study appeared in Nature Astronomy.

Sources: McGill University, JIVE
https://newatlas.com/space/fast-radio-bursts-lowest-frequency/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

Amateur Radio Newsline Report

PAIR OF DX GROUPS SET EYES ON BOUVET ISLAND

PAUL/ANCHOR: We begin this week with a big DXpedition update — and you know that has to mean Bouvet Island. But - TWO DXpeditions? John Williams VK4JJW brings us the details.

JOHN: The date is set - December 15th of this year - for the Rebel DX Group to depart Cape Town, South Africa for Bouvet Island and the Three Y Zero Eye (3Y0I) activation. The team said it is as ready as ever, following the cancellation of their 2019 DXpedition when they were within sight of the remote island and turned back during a cyclone for safety reasons. The team of eight, led by Polish DXpeditioner Dom 3Z9DX, expects to be on Bouvet for as many as 30 days and will operate eight stations on 160 through 6 metres, using CW, SSB, FT4/FT8, RTTY and operations through the Qatar-Oscar 100 satellite. The team has continued to appeal for donations to meet its remaining need for $32,000.

Meanwhile, the Intrepid-DX Group has announced that they will be activating the island as well using the call sign Three Y Zero Jay (3Y0J). Their 20-day stay on the island is set for January 2023. The team's immediate goal is to continue fundraising to meet their budget of $764,000 before their planned trip aboard the MV Braveheart.

The Rebel DX Group, in response to the other team's announcement, said in a press release: [quote] "We would like to wish the recently announced 3Y0J Bouvet DXpedition all the best for a successful activity in 2023. There is enough space for even 3 more activities from Three Y Zero land. We know how much detailed planning goes into a project like this and cross fingers for them." [endquote]

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm John Williams VK4JJW.

(INTREPID DX WEBSITE)

**
ANTARCTIC ASSIGNMENT EVOLVES INTO DXPEDITION

PAUL/ANCHOR: Occasionally there's a DXpedition that didn't start out quite so ambitiously. Graham Kemp VK4BB has this story about one ham whose activation of Antarctica just grew from its humble beginnings.

GRAHAM: For Paul Daniels VK2PAD, this was the Antarctic DXpedition that, well ... just sort of happened. An instrument electrician and trades supervisor, Paul was assigned to work at Casey Station in Antarctica where he expects to be for the next nine months or so. Of course he brought his radios and lots of wire for some antennas. Initially, he just wanted to chat with people on the air: that's what he told Newsline. A conversation with the Australian World Wide Flora & Fauna manager changed all that. Being a SOTA activator, he was game for adventure, and he was convinced to activate the WWFF park he was in, as well as the continent.

He's using the callsign VK0PD and trying his best on HF, including two bands new to him: 17 and 24 metres.

Paul told Newsline: [quote] "Somehow this quickly morphed into what feels like being a rare contest station. My usual style is halfway between a quick QSO and a ragchew. I like to get to know people and make friends, so this fast-paced action is not a familiar thing for me." [endquote] The activation has shown Paul that the peaks of SOTA summits have got nothing on the peaks of massive pileups for a coveted DX location. Email him if you want to learn more about his availability. His email address is in the printed version of this week's Newsline script.

VK0PD only operates on the weekends but is eager to — what else? — break the ice.

**
ANOTHER 'FIRST' FOR HAMS ON THE ISS

PAUL/ANCHOR: Commercial spaceflight logged another first on Monday, April 5th, as the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft undocked from the forward port and moved to the zenith port of the ISS with the crew of four amateur radio operators aboard. The complex maneuver was the first of its kind undertaken by a commercial crew and it makes way for the next Crew Dragon spacecraft's docking at the ISS later this month. On board Crew Dragon "Resilience" during the undocking were NASA's Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, Victor Glover, KI5BKC, Shannon
Walker, KD5DXB and JAXA's Soichi Noguchi KD5TVP. The relocation was carried live on NASA TV.

The new four-member crew will consist of NASA's Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD and Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, KE5DNI, and Thomas Pesquet, KG5FYG, from the European Space Agency.

(SPACENEWS.COM, NASA, AMSAT)

**
SILENT KEY: HEXBEAM INNOVATOR WALDI SP7IDX

PAUL/ANCHOR: Hexbeam users and DXers alike are marking the loss of a popular and prominent figure. Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us about Waldi SP7IDX.

JEREMY: An amateur radio operator considered one of the world's foremost makers of hexbeam antennas has become a Silent Key.

The death of Waldi was reported on the DX-World.Net website. Reportedly recovering from COVID-19, he suffered a fatal heart attack on 4th April.

His QTH in southeast Poland was also the company headquarters for his successful hexbeam antenna, used widely by Dx-peditioners around the world. He was a well-known Dxpeditioner, most particularly in the Islands on the Air awards scheme.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(DX-WORLD.NET)

**
JS8CALL DEVELOPER WINS SPECIAL RECOGNITION

PAUL/ANCHOR: The developer of a popular new software that enhances weak-signal communication has received special recognition. Sel Embee KB3TZD tells us about him.

SEL: The creator of the weak-signal digital communication conversational application known as JS8Call is this year's recipient of the Amateur Radio Software Award. The award, founded by Claus AE0S, is an international honor recognizing the spirit of innovation given freely to the amateur radio community. Congratulations to Jordan Sherer, KN4CRD, of Atlanta, Georgia, who created the application as an extension of the FT8 protocol. According to the awards website, the application was five years in the works and has added new vitality to digital communications, most particularly among members of ARES. It is available to users as a free download. On his QRZ.com page, Jordan describes the application as "a derivative of WSJT-X that focuses on long-form keyboard-to-keyboard style communication similar to what you'd see in Fldigi or FSQ."

Jordan will receive his award certificate and a grant of $300.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Sel Embee KB3TZD.

(RICH GORDON K0EB)

**
RSGB ANNOUNCES 'FRIENDSHIP ON THE AIR' AWARD

PAUL/ANCHOR: Most of us know that for a good ham radio experience you need good components. One of the most important components, however, is an intangible one: friendship. The Radio Society of Great Britain hopes to change that by making that friendship tangible and rewarding it. Here's Jeremy Boot G4NJH to explain.

JEREMY: Making contact is at the heart of the latest award being offered by the Radio Society of Great Britain. The Friendship on the Air award has been launched to celebrate contacts that turn into friendships amongst hams. It's a noncompetitive award that encourages amateurs to dispense with the quick QSO and really connect with other radio operators. It's an outgrowth of the "Get on the Air to Care" campaign launched last year by the RSGB and the National Health Service to reduce social isolation during the global pandemic. The RSGB said that the award ties in with the theme of World Amateur Radio Day on Sunday the 18th of April: "Home but Never Alone."

For details on how to qualify for the award, visit the link provided in this week's Newsline script at arnewsline.org

**
NOMINATE A YOUNG HAM FOR NEWSLINE'S AWARD

PAUL/ANCHOR: There's one more award worth mentioning here: The Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year award. Just a reminder that the nomination period is open. Think of a young amateur whose commitment to community and whose enthusiasm for radio has inspired you and others and submit their name. Nominees must 18 or younger living in the United States, its possessions or any Canadian province. Downloadable nomination forms can be found on our website arnewsline.org
**
CONTEST FOR YOUNG HAMS MAKES DEBUT IN REGION 1

PAUL/ANCHOR: The Youth Working Group of the IARU Region 1 has announced a new contest as we hear from Ed Durrant DD5LP.

ED:  Young amateurs in IARU Region 1 are hoping for a big turnout in May for the debut of the YOTA contest, an initiative designed to get more young amateurs on the air around the world. The 12-hour competition will be held three times a year, with the first one happening on the 22nd of May. There are eight categories, including ones for hams 25 and younger and the contest exchange will be the operators' ages.  Activity will be on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10-metre bands in CW and SSB modes. The later contests will be in July and December.
The Youth Working Group has arranged the event with the cooperation of the Hungarian Amateur Radio Society. Details are available on the website shown in this week's Newsline script at arnewsline.org.

**
ECHOLINK NET TO MARK WORLD AMATEUR RADIO DAY

PAUL/ANCHOR: Speaking of the IARU, it's almost time to mark its 96th anniversary. The worldwide celebration includes this one happening on Echolink. Kevin Trotman N5PRE tells us about it.

KEVIN: Like the International Amateur Radio Union itself, one net celebrating the IARU's founding has undergone plenty of changes since its inception. The net began modestly on Echolink in 2015 when John DeRycke (Duh Rikey) W2JLD said he noticed there were no celebrations being held in that mode to mark the IARU's founding in Paris in 1925. It has grown in subsequent years to include other modes and extended hours of operation. This year's net will span 16 hours with 10 to 12 net controllers from around the world and the special event call sign W7W. Hams will be checking in on the ROC-HAM Echolink conference node 531091 and on Allstar 2585. Other conferences will be linked in including the *DODROPIN* NODE 355800, WALES NODE 485040 and the South Wales Digital Group node 676659. Users of DMR and the Hamshack Hotline will also be able to check in.

For full details of the celebration visit the QRZ page for W7W and to view the QSL card marking the event.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Kevin Trotman N5PRE.

**
TWO-WAY RADIOS HELP NEW ZEALAND SEARCH AND RESCUE

PAUL/ANCHOR: In New Zealand, there's promise for extra search-and-rescue success using drones outfitted with two-way radio. Jim Meachen ZL2BHF tells us more.

JIM: Take a highly directional microphone array and processor, a team of drones and a wild landscape with the potential for the danger of getting lost and you have a promising search-and-rescue communications tool.

At least that's what executives at Dotterel, a company in Auckland, New Zealand are hoping. Outfitting drones with this kind of audio payload is providing two-way radio capability that can conduct search-and-rescue over large areas by hearing people's cries for help. This adds one more tool to the versatile toolbox of public safety operations which already contains the ability to use thermal imaging, cellphone signals and visual imagery. According to an article in DroneLife, this radio installation will permit two-way communications with people on the ground calling for aid and who can provide details of their injuries..

Shawn Edlin, the company's CEO, said in a press release that the microphones are able to receive highly directional audio on the ground as the signal remains uncompromised by drone propeller noise and other sounds.

Brandon McCarthy, Auckland search and rescue leader, said audio will provide an extra capability for the team's operations going forward.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

(DRONELIFE)

**
CONTEST UNIVERSITY TO BE HELD VIRTUALLY AGAIN

PAUL/ANCHOR: With Hamvention being held virtually again this year, there are two programs figuring prominently on the calendar. We hear about them from Stephen Kinford N8WB.

STEPHEN: Hamvention's Contest University will be held virtually again this year, just like Hamvention itself. Classes get under way at 9 a.m. Eastern Time, or 1300 UTC, Thursday May 20th on Zoom. Registration is free and you can start signing up from the 20th of April.

Please check contestuniversity.com for updates and a course outline.

Lessons of a different sort continue the next day as Hamvention's 2021 Award winners make 45-minute presentations followed by a Q&A – again, all conducted virtually on Zoom. Presenters are Newsline's science editor Tamitha Mulligan Skov (SKOVE) WX6SWW, winner of the Technical Achievement Award; Wesley Lamboley W3WL, winner of the Special Achievement Award; Angel Vazquez WP3R, Amateur of the Year; and the Vienna Wireless Society K4HTA Club of the Year.

Don't forget the Hamvention QSO Party on Saturday, May 22nd from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

**

WORLD OF DX

Bodo, HB9EWU, is on the air in Zambia where he is on a humanitarian mission. He is using the call sign 9J2BG and is active on 20 meters. Send QSLs to HB9EWU, direct or by the Bureau. He is unsure of the length of his activation but will send QSL cards in 2022 when he returns to Switzerland.

Be listening for Alex PA1AW who will be using the special event call sign PA96WARD celebrating 'World Amateur Radio Day 2021 on the 18th of April. That date is the anniversary of the creation of the International amateur Radio Union in 1925 in Paris. Send QSLs to PA1AW.

**
KICKER: THE VAGABOND HAM

PAUL/ANCHOR: We end this week's news report with an invitation: On the occasion of World Amateur Radio Day on Sunday April 18th, we ask you to sit back, relax and think of what it means to be a ham radio operator. To help your thoughts along, we offer this poem by Ken Johnson W6NKE/SK, first published in 73 magazine in 1960. Sunil VU3ZAN brought it to the attention of Onno VK6FLAB. We thank Onno, who reads it here in this except from his weekly podcast "Foundations of Amateur Radio."

The Vagabond Ham, by Ken Johnson W6NKE (SK)

A vagabond's life is the life I live
Along with others, ready to give
A friendly laugh and a word of cheer
To each vagabond friend, both far and near.
I travel the air waves, day or night
To visit places I'll never sight
From the rail of a ship, or from a plane
Yet I'll visit them all again and again.
I never hear from a far off land
That my pulse doesn't quicken.
With careful hand I tune my receiver and VFO dial
To make a new friend and chat for awhile.
Africa, Asia, they're all quite near
In as easy reach as my radio gear
With the flip of a switch, the turn of a knob
I can work a ZL, a friend named Bob.
There's an LU4, a fellow that's grand
Who's described to me his native land
'Till I can hear the birds, and feel the breeze
As it blows from the slopes of the mighty Andes.
I learned of the surf, and a coral strand
The smell of hybiscus where palm trees stand
Neath a tropical moon, silver and bright
From an FO8 that I worked one night.
I've thrilled to the tales of night birds' screams
In the depths of the jungle where death-laden streams
Flow'neath verdant growth of browns and greens
From a DU6 in the Philippines.
The moors of Scotland, a little French Shrine,
German castles on the River Rhine
Of these things I've learned, over the air
Without ever leaving my ham shack chair.
There's a KL7 on top of the world
To whom the Northern Lights are a banner unfurled
That sweeps across the Arctic night
Makes the frozen sky a thing of delight.
Tales of silver and gold and precious stones
Ancient temples and molding bones
Where the natives, I'm told, are tall and tan
By an XE3 down in Yucatan.
My vagabond trips over the air
Will take me, well, just anywhere
Where other vagabonds and I will meet
From a tropical isle, to a city street
My vagabond's life will continue, I know
Through the fabulous hobby of ham radio
And one day from out at the world's end
We'll meet on the air, my Vagabond friend.

FRIDAY EDITION: My youngest son is off to Mexico with family for a vacation at an all inclusive resort. I suggested he stay at the resort and not go anywhere on side trips. They flew out of Logan at 730am , it must have been a rocky start with all the wind gusts here- 35mph....NH drops mandatory wearing of masks WTF. They are changing the state logo from Live Free or Die to Live Free and Die.......Homeless people living in the streets, garbage everywhere and the genius politicians in CA decide to launch a satellite to track polluters....Scientists create embryos that are part human and monkey, sweet Jesus what are they thinking?....A few of the links may be "dead', still s good resource. 600 Amateur Radio Web Sites (ksarrl.org) courtesy of David M. Carney, KO1C

Ten more stations turn off Medium Wave services

Ten more local BBC radio stations are turning off their Medium Wave transmitters for good this year.

BBC Essex, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, BBC Radio Devon, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio Sheffield, BBC Hereford & Worcester, BBC Radio Stoke, BBC Radio Lancashire, BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle will be FM and digital only in May and June 2021.

In addition, BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Gloucestershire will reduce AM coverage.

The BBC’s intention to close MW transmitters was first announced ten years ago in 2011.

In 2018 the corporation commenced with these and continued them in 2020 across Scotland, Wales, and England.

Kieran Clifton, Director, BBC Distribution & Business Development writes: “A large and increasing share of radio listening in the UK – including to the BBC – is digital, and the BBC is committed to a digital future for radio.”

“In recent years we have made significant investment in local DAB expansion, all of our local radio stations are available on digital terrestrial TV (such as Freeview), and we have transformed our online and mobile offering with BBC Sounds.”

https://radiotoday.co.uk/2021/04/ten-more-stations-turn-off-medium-wave-services/

YOTA Online: The end ... but a new beginning!

The next Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) Online takes place on Thursday, April 29, at 1800 GMT (7pm BST)

YOTA say:

In this newest episode the team will present the main topic 'The end … but a new beginning!'.

This time we will give you some insights on our recent YOTA Online sessions, talk about our future plans with this and other upcoming projects. Further we will focus on the ongoing pandemic problematic and its possibilities.

Join this newest and last YOTA Online session. Moreover, we will also have a special prize draw after you solved our new riddle live on the show. We will give away an ICOM HF and one V/UHF radio and many more things. So, stay tuned, check out our social media channels for any updates and be excited!

WHAT IS YOTA ONLINE?

The Youth Working Group within the IARU Region 1 created a new program called “YOTA online”. In these monthly gatherings we will try to bring the YOTA feeling towards the online community and spread the word that there is youth in ham radio.

A YOTA team consisting of active youngsters will present different topics, while answering questions from the community. There will also be a section where different recent YOTA event hosts will be able to present the highlights, while also giving participants the opportunity to share stories.

These sessions are also interesting if you want to learn more about organizing such amateur radio events for young people. This will be followed by a Q&A session with the group presenting. At the end of the event we will also do a prize raffle including a little riddle amongst all participants.

WHERE WILL IT BE HELD?

It will be streamed live on YouTube, Facebook and Twitch channels. Here are the links to our channels.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/hamyota
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/hamyota
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hamyota

THURSDAY EDITION: Good morning hamsters....sunny and beautiful and turning to wind and rain (snow in parts of western MA. Only in New England....I had a late start and will update later in the day

 

Camping Trip News: It appears Joe-K1JEK's sneaker got overheated sitting by the fire, like roasting a marshmallow.
The question is was Joe cold or were too many brews involved?

 

Joe-K1JEK amd Mike- N1XW in NH

Archive of Marconi Papers and Correspondence Acquired by California Museum

National Science Foundation Funds Creation of Research Lab at Alaska’s HAARP

WEDNESDAY EDITION: Joe-K1JEK and Mike-N1XW are out camping on the Kancamagus Highway Hancock site, they will be on the air late afternoons around 4pm on 3928...

Radio club to honor crew of lost submarine

The submarine USS Squalus sank in the Gulf of Maine on May 23, 1939. Twenty-six of its crew were lost, but, miraculously, 33 others were saved.

The Maine Ham Radio Society, based out of Milbridge, will be honoring the Squalus and its crew with a special “Remember the Squalus” event on the amateur radio airwaves on the 82nd anniversary of the tragic accident.

Using the special FCC-issued call sign W1S, club members will take to the airwaves and make contacts nationally and around the globe, making other “hams” aware of the Squalus. Special certificates will be awarded to hams who successfully make contact with W1S that day, upon request.

For more information on the USS Squalus special event and other Maine ham radio activities, visit https://mainehamradiosociety.com.

St. Vincent Radio Amateurs on Alert During Volcano Emergency

RAC Announces 'Get on the Air on World Amateur Radio Day' Event

Amateur radio has a new census

As the amateur radio community grows and evolves, the need to better understand the preferences and expectations of amateur radio operators worldwide becomes increasingly important.

Inspired by the new licensees joining amateur radio’s ranks, and the seasoned ones who continue to believe in its value, Ham Census (hamcensus.org) is inviting all hams to take part in a unique survey. The project’s founders are looking forward to responses from both the United States and the rest of the globe, notably from Canadian neighbors to the north, the large Japanese and Thai ham communities, and all other operators worldwide. Questions deal with operating preferences, gear, the shack, views on regulations, clubs and associations, and importantly, about the future of amateur radio.

K3MRI, co-admin of both Ham Census and Ham Community, says: “We wanted to give operators a louder voice to better inform club leaders, associations, manufacturers and also regulators.” He continues, “we all want the amateur radio community to grow organically and collaboratively, and for that we need to know what operators are thinking.” K3MRI and his team are counting on operators, clubs, organizations and even ham-related businesses, to spread the word ensuring there is a large sample of respondents of all ages, all interests, and all nationalities.

Ham Census, which is divided into six parts, runs year-round delivering constantly updated results. The only caveat is that, though it is absolutely free for all to take and use, only those who complete all six parts of the Census have access to the full results.

Importantly, after completing it, Ham Census is encouraging respondents to submit suggestions on how to improve both the questions and multiple choice answers, notably on everything that is cutting edge.

As K3MRI states: “if there’s one thing all hams continue to prove, is that amateur radio innovation is alive and well.”

Ham Census takes about 40 to 45 minutes to complete.

TUESDAY EDITION: So what does happen when you die in space?....Another senseless shooting in MN by police, so community responds by looting twenty stores. Glad I live on an island....Researchers Test Nuclear Blast Defense Against Earth-Threatening Killer Asteroids ....Iron man body armor might soon  be available....

HF OTH Radar transmissions too numerous to count

The IARU Region 1 Monitoring System newsletter reports in March the ubiquitous Over The Horizon Radars made up about 60% of all interference observations, 'one cannot even count them anymore'

"Presumably there are only a few stations transmitting on often changing frequencies. In contrast to the past, they are more and more burst systems which usually transmit for only a few seconds, then the frequency is changed. Only the OTHR "Contayner" and "Pluto" (UK base Cyprus) each transmit on a frequency for a longer period of time."

The International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System (IARUMS) Region 1 March 2021 newsletter can be read at
https://www.iaru-r1.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IARUMS-Newsletter-21-03.pdf

Recordings of military transmissions can be found on the Signal Identification Guide Wiki at
https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Category:Military

Monitor the short wave bands on-line with a web based SDR receiver at
http://www.websdr.org/

Sable Island CY0C DXpedition

Murray, WA4DAN, sent out the following on April 10th: The Sable Island CY0C DXpedition team was informed this week by the Parks Canada-Sable Island manager that our scheduled October 2021 Sable DXpedition would have to be postponed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, because of the pandemic, Parks Canada is behind on their island maintenance projects and the Visitor Quarters will not be available for the DXpedition team. The Sable Island manager did extend an invitation to the team for October 2022, which the team unanimously accepted.

Obviously, the Sable Island DXpedition team is disappointed in not being able to follow through with the 2021 CY0C DXpedition. Hopefully the solar numbers and propagation will be much improved in October 2022.

Since the 2021 CY0C DXpedition is not possible, the Sable DXpedition team is offering a couple of options to the many foundations, clubs and individuals who have already sent financial support. We are offering complete refunds to those who request a refund. If you would like us to apply your contribution to the 2022 CY0C DXpedition, that will be
available as well. Any refund requests should be directed to WA4DAN.

The CY0C team would like to thank the many foundations, clubs and individuals for their continuing support. Perseverance will pay off!

73, Murray Adams WA4DAN
2022 Sable Island DXpedition Team Leader

Updated Radio Frequency Exposure Rules Become Effective on May 3

EI2IMD on the air for International Marconi Day

The South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC will be QRV as EI2IMD on Saturday April 24th as an official Marconi station for the International Marconi Day 2021.

The station will be active solely from Tramore, Co Waterford. Tramore has a direct connection with Marconi as he often stayed there with his aunt, a Mrs. Cookman who resided at The Cove, Tramore.

Due to the current travel situation, the organisers, the Cornish Radio Amateur Club have allowed the EI2WRC members to run the special call from their own homes, A special QSL card will be made available once printed.

More details will be made known in the coming weeks in IRTS news articles and on the SEARG Facebook page and the EI2IMD QRZ page.

For more information on International Marconi Day on April 24th, log on to www.gx4crc.com;

For anyone that wishes to find out more about the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and their activities you can drop them an email to southeasternarg /at/ gmail.com or please feel free to go along to any their meetings.
You can check their website www.searg.ie and you can also join them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

MONDAY EDITION: Good Morning America.....I guess this would be good a week to aerate the lawn and fertilize, 60 bucks to rent the machine for a halfday... New earthquake app for your phone...The Navy is getting in to lasers.....

The View from Faraway Farm: Listening to the world

I remember taking a ride with my adoptive Dad up to Newport, Vermont one winter day. A friend of his had passed and his widow was selling her husband’s complete Ham radio set-up, including a sixty-foot tower. The man’s name was Noble Craft and he had a trucking company. His Ham radio hobby had always fascinated my Dad. Crafts call sign was W1SAT “The Sour Apple Tree” as he called it. As I recall we loaded some of the smaller equipment into the car, and a truck with a couple of guys was sent to Newport to get the one kilowatt Collins transmitter and the tower a couple of weeks later.

Piece by piece the sixty-foot disassembled galvanized steel tower was stowed in our basement and the gigantic one kilowatt Collins tube transmitter sat upstairs in the furnace room. We hooked up the beautifully made desktop-sized Collins receiver and spent hours listening to Ham radio operators around the globe. It was about this time that my Dad began to experience severe hearing loss. I went off to school and he lost interest in the radio equipment. I have no idea what happened to all of it but I do recall that he gave an oscilloscope to Ron Gadway, the local doctor, a ham operator. I can only guess that the tower was sold for scrap.

In later years when I had a few extra dollars, I purchased a good shortwave radio receiver. I was an occasional listener and I had a few programs that I listened to like the BBC Story Hour. Unfortunately, a friend saw the radio at a get-together at my house and dragged it out to the deck to listen to a Red Sox game, plugged in the adjustable power transformer, turned it to some insane setting, and burned it up. I attempted to fix it but it was never the same after that.

My career in the broadcast industry never included the technical side directly. Sure, I found it interesting and I can easily become drawn into the whole attraction to the gear, but not the in-depth science of it. Nearly 30 years ago I was compelled to do all of my commercial production of broadcast advertisements at home. I did not have the thousands of dollars required to build a studio. One day I asked broadcast engineer Ira Wilner if recording mixing and production could be done on a computer. At the time no one in this area was doing anything of the kind, but Ira gave me a list of the hardware and software I needed. It took a while but I got all of the required elements together, Ira made it all work on my computer and suddenly I had a broadcast quality studio in my home office. I still have one today and use it all the time. Even though radio has been a part of my working career since the beginning I have never tired of simply listening to it in its many forms

The industry has gone through the same changes that just about every industry has in the computer age. When I started I did sound editing with a razor blade and tape. Now I do it on a computer screen and have been for nearly a quarter-century. However, radio listening has always been done on a radio. I recently discovered that you can plug a dongle hooked to an antenna into a USB port on your computer. It is called SDR, or Software Defined Radio.

I bought one of these things recently and got it working with some help from YouTube and the internet. The frequencies and types of radio you can listen to are only limited by your antenna and your software. The software I downloaded is free and the dongle and antenna were 29 bucks. The antenna is a joke but I can soon fix that. The exciting thing is that I got it working. I’m on a steep learning curve with this thing right now but that’s the fun of it. Listening to the world is still in and now with SDR, it is more economical than it has ever been. By Arlo Mudgett Apr 10, 2021

Radio ham receives Federal Cross of Merit

Radio amateur Prof. Dr.-Ing, Ulrich Rohde, DJ2LR, has been awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

A translation of the DARC post reads:

At the suggestion of the Bavarian Prime Minister Dr. Markus Söder (CSU), the Federal President has awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to the well-known professor, entrepreneur and radio amateur Prof. Dr.-Ing, Ulrich Rohde, DJ2LR. With this award, the Federal President honored the great achievements of DJ2LR in the fields of high frequency and microwave technology.

Dr. Ulrich Rohde is also considered to be the inventor of SDR technology, which he first presented at a conference in 1985. In recognition of this pioneering development, which is used today in practically all communication technology and also in amateur radio, there was a special call sign DL35SDR last year.

Prof. Dr.-Ing Ulrich Rohde is a co-partner of the Munich-based company of the same name for high-frequency and measurement technology and celebrated his 80th birthday last year. He is a member of the DARC OV München-Süd (C18).

Rainer Englert DF2NU, OVV of C18, reports on this.

WEEKEND EDITION: The few, the proud, the unvaccinated.....This alligator was was hungry....Only in Louisiana can you get a shot of booze with your vax shot....

 

Promoting amateur radio to the public In the latest edition of QNews Geoff Emery VK4ZPP asks how much do we promote amateur radio? and if we do, what follow up is there? He writes: Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking. As World Amateur Radio Day is upon us, I wonder how much we care about the service that we enjoy. It is one thing to talk about things at the club and chinwag on the radio but how much do we do to promote the hobby? Here am I on a weekly news broadcast and I ask myself how much do I do to promote amateur radio or am I just talking to the faithful? I hark back to the attempt at promoting an annual field day to roughly coincide with the International Commemoration of the founding of the IARU. I think the VK attempt struggled for the first year and foundered after the second and that must have been some 15 years or so back, from memory. The idea was to have displays and demonstrations in places where the public could come and see what we were doing. It worked to an extent. In my area, the club succeeded in getting coverage from a couple of the local TV networks and some material in the local paper. To aid clubs, the WIA had previously provided a press kit which assisted us in preparing news releases about the activities and there were posters available to aid the visual presentation. That was a while ago and I wonder what has happened to the impetus to show off what we do. What is it that seems to have bogged us down? What is it that we can do that will put amateur radio before the public again. The schools that contact the International Space Station, ISS, via amateur radio tend to get the message out and show the interest in a particular part of the STEM curriculum but what is the follow up? The clubs that provide operators and aid in Jamboree of the Air for the Scouting movement seem to provide a contingent without getting publicity of the public service they provide. These are just two examples of hams participating in community events and as a recreational group, we fail to capitalise on the opportunities to show the world a more comprehensive picture than the blurry image or no idea of what radio amateurs do. I don’t expect us to revert to historical re-enactments but from my point of view this is something that the candidates for the WIA Board should be already working on. I don’t have the figures and don’t know if they have been collated but we see that by utilising remote invigilation methods, both the ARRL in the USA and the RSGB in the UK have seen the majority of candidates sitting for amateur credentials, not only succeed but during the lock downs the numbers have increased over previous equivalent periods. How have we done in VK? There is a comedic song from many years ago by Bob Hudson called “The Newcastle Song” and the refrain carries an important wake up for us too, “never let a chance go by”. I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that’s what I think....how about you?

Amateur Radio Newsline Report

**
PAIR OF DX GROUPS SET EYES ON BOUVET ISLAND

PAUL/ANCHOR: We begin this week with a big DXpedition update — and you know that has to mean Bouvet Island. But - TWO DXpeditions? John Williams VK4JJW brings us the details.

JOHN: The date is set - December 15th of this year - for the Rebel DX Group to depart Cape Town, South Africa for Bouvet Island and the Three Y Zero Eye (3Y0I) activation. The team said it is as ready as ever, following the cancellation of their 2019 DXpedition when they were within sight of the remote island and turned back during a cyclone for safety reasons. The team of eight, led by Polish DXpeditioner Dom 3Z9DX, expects to be on Bouvet for as many as 30 days and will operate eight stations on 160 through 6 metres, using CW, SSB, FT4/FT8, RTTY and operations through the Qatar-Oscar 100 satellite. The team has continued to appeal for donations to meet its remaining need for $32,000.

Meanwhile, the Intrepid-DX Group has announced that they will be activating the island as well using the call sign Three Y Zero Jay (3Y0J). Their 20-day stay on the island is set for January 2023. The team's immediate goal is to continue fundraising to meet their budget of $764,000 before their planned trip aboard the MV Braveheart.

The Rebel DX Group, in response to the other team's announcement, said in a press release: [quote] "We would like to wish the recently announced 3Y0J Bouvet DXpedition all the best for a successful activity in 2023. There is enough space for even 3 more activities from Three Y Zero land. We know how much detailed planning goes into a project like this and cross fingers for them." [endquote]

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm John Williams VK4JJW.

(INTREPID DX WEBSITE)

**
ANTARCTIC ASSIGNMENT EVOLVES INTO DXPEDITION

PAUL/ANCHOR: Occasionally there's a DXpedition that didn't start out quite so ambitiously. Graham Kemp VK4BB has this story about one ham whose activation of Antarctica just grew from its humble beginnings.

GRAHAM: For Paul Daniels VK2PAD, this was the Antarctic DXpedition that, well ... just sort of happened. An instrument electrician and trades supervisor, Paul was assigned to work at Casey Station in Antarctica where he expects to be for the next nine months or so. Of course he brought his radios and lots of wire for some antennas. Initially, he just wanted to chat with people on the air: that's what he told Newsline. A conversation with the Australian World Wide Flora & Fauna manager changed all that. Being a SOTA activator, he was game for adventure, and he was convinced to activate the WWFF park he was in, as well as the continent.

He's using the callsign VK0PD and trying his best on HF, including two bands new to him: 17 and 24 metres.

Paul told Newsline: [quote] "Somehow this quickly morphed into what feels like being a rare contest station. My usual style is halfway between a quick QSO and a ragchew. I like to get to know people and make friends, so this fast-paced action is not a familiar thing for me." [endquote] The activation has shown Paul that the peaks of SOTA summits have got nothing on the peaks of massive pileups for a coveted DX location. Email him if you want to learn more about his availability. His email address is in the printed version of this week's Newsline script.

VK0PD only operates on the weekends but is eager to — what else? — break the ice.

ANOTHER 'FIRST' FOR HAMS ON THE ISS

PAUL/ANCHOR: Commercial spaceflight logged another first on Monday, April 5th, as the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft undocked from the forward port and moved to the zenith port of the ISS with the crew of four amateur radio operators aboard. The complex maneuver was the first of its kind undertaken by a commercial crew and it makes way for the next Crew Dragon spacecraft's docking at the ISS later this month. On board Crew Dragon "Resilience" during the undocking were NASA's Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, Victor Glover, KI5BKC, Shannon
Walker, KD5DXB and JAXA's Soichi Noguchi KD5TVP. The relocation was carried live on NASA TV.

The new four-member crew will consist of NASA's Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD and Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, KE5DNI, and Thomas Pesquet, KG5FYG, from the European Space Agency.

(SPACENEWS.COM, NASA, AMSAT)

**
SILENT KEY: HEXBEAM INNOVATOR WALDI SP7IDX

PAUL/ANCHOR: Hexbeam users and DXers alike are marking the loss of a popular and prominent figure. Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us about Waldi SP7IDX.

JEREMY: An amateur radio operator considered one of the world's foremost makers of hexbeam antennas has become a Silent Key.

The death of Waldi was reported on the DX-World.Net website. Reportedly recovering from COVID-19, he suffered a fatal heart attack on 4th April.

His QTH in southeast Poland was also the company headquarters for his successful hexbeam antenna, used widely by Dx-peditioners around the world. He was a well-known Dxpeditioner, most particularly in the Islands on the Air awards scheme.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(DX-WORLD.NET)

**
JS8CALL DEVELOPER WINS SPECIAL RECOGNITION

PAUL/ANCHOR: The developer of a popular new software that enhances weak-signal communication has received special recognition. Sel Embee KB3TZD tells us about him.

SEL: The creator of the weak-signal digital communication conversational application known as JS8Call is this year's recipient of the Amateur Radio Software Award. The award, founded by Claus AE0S, is an international honor recognizing the spirit of innovation given freely to the amateur radio community. Congratulations to Jordan Sherer, KN4CRD, of Atlanta, Georgia, who created the application as an extension of the FT8 protocol. According to the awards website, the application was five years in the works and has added new vitality to digital communications, most particularly among members of ARES. It is available to users as a free download. On his QRZ.com page, Jordan describes the application as "a derivative of WSJT-X that focuses on long-form keyboard-to-keyboard style communication similar to what you'd see in Fldigi or FSQ."

Jordan will receive his award certificate and a grant of $300.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Sel Embee KB3TZD.

(RICH GORDON K0EB)

**
RSGB ANNOUNCES 'FRIENDSHIP ON THE AIR' AWARD

PAUL/ANCHOR: Most of us know that for a good ham radio experience you need good components. One of the most important components, however, is an intangible one: friendship. The Radio Society of Great Britain hopes to change that by making that friendship tangible and rewarding it. Here's Jeremy Boot G4NJH to explain.

JEREMY: Making contact is at the heart of the latest award being offered by the Radio Society of Great Britain. The Friendship on the Air award has been launched to celebrate contacts that turn into friendships amongst hams. It's a noncompetitive award that encourages amateurs to dispense with the quick QSO and really connect with other radio operators. It's an outgrowth of the "Get on the Air to Care" campaign launched last year by the RSGB and the National Health Service to reduce social isolation during the global pandemic. The RSGB said that the award ties in with the theme of World Amateur Radio Day on Sunday the 18th of April: "Home but Never Alone."

**
NOMINATE A YOUNG HAM FOR NEWSLINE'S AWARD

PAUL/ANCHOR: There's one more award worth mentioning here: The Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year award. Just a reminder that the nomination period is open. Think of a young amateur whose commitment to community and whose enthusiasm for radio has inspired you and others and submit their name. Nominees must 18 or younger living in the United States, its possessions or any Canadian province. Downloadable nomination forms can be found on our website arnewsline.org

**
CONTEST FOR YOUNG HAMS MAKES DEBUT IN REGION 1

PAUL/ANCHOR: The Youth Working Group of the IARU Region 1 has announced a new contest as we hear from Ed Durrant DD5LP.

ED:  Young amateurs in IARU Region 1 are hoping for a big turnout in May for the debut of the YOTA contest, an initiative designed to get more young amateurs on the air around the world. The 12-hour competition will be held three times a year, with the first one happening on the 22nd of May. There are eight categories, including ones for hams 25 and younger and the contest exchange will be the operators' ages.  Activity will be on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10-metre bands in CW and SSB modes. The later contests will be in July and December.
The Youth Working Group has arranged the event with the cooperation of the Hungarian Amateur Radio Society. Details are available on the website shown in this week's Newsline script at arnewsline.org.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Ed Durrant DD5LP.

PRINT ONLY: https://ham-yota.com/contest
 
(YOUTH WORKING GROUP IARU REGION 1)

**
ECHOLINK NET TO MARK WORLD AMATEUR RADIO DAY

PAUL/ANCHOR: Speaking of the IARU, it's almost time to mark its 96th anniversary. The worldwide celebration includes this one happening on Echolink. Kevin Trotman N5PRE tells us about it.

KEVIN: Like the International Amateur Radio Union itself, one net celebrating the IARU's founding has undergone plenty of changes since its inception. The net began modestly on Echolink in 2015 when John DeRycke (Duh Rikey) W2JLD said he noticed there were no celebrations being held in that mode to mark the IARU's founding in Paris in 1925. It has grown in subsequent years to include other modes and extended hours of operation. This year's net will span 16 hours with 10 to 12 net controllers from around the world and the special event call sign W7W. Hams will be checking in on the ROC-HAM Echolink conference node 531091 and on Allstar 2585. Other conferences will be linked in including the *DODROPIN* NODE 355800, WALES NODE 485040 and the South Wales Digital Group node 676659. Users of DMR and the Hamshack Hotline will also be able to check in.

For full details of the celebration visit the QRZ page for W7W and to view the QSL card marking the event.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Kevin Trotman N5PRE.

**
TWO-WAY RADIOS HELP NEW ZEALAND SEARCH AND RESCUE

PAUL/ANCHOR: In New Zealand, there's promise for extra search-and-rescue success using drones outfitted with two-way radio. Jim Meachen ZL2BHF tells us more.

JIM: Take a highly directional microphone array and processor, a team of drones and a wild landscape with the potential for the danger of getting lost and you have a promising search-and-rescue communications tool.

At least that's what executives at Dotterel, a company in Auckland, New Zealand are hoping. Outfitting drones with this kind of audio payload is providing two-way radio capability that can conduct search-and-rescue over large areas by hearing people's cries for help. This adds one more tool to the versatile toolbox of public safety operations which already contains the ability to use thermal imaging, cellphone signals and visual imagery. According to an article in DroneLife, this radio installation will permit two-way communications with people on the ground calling for aid and who can provide details of their injuries..

Shawn Edlin, the company's CEO, said in a press release that the microphones are able to receive highly directional audio on the ground as the signal remains uncompromised by drone propeller noise and other sounds.

Brandon McCarthy, Auckland search and rescue leader, said audio will provide an extra capability for the team's operations going forward.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

(DRONELIFE)

**
CONTEST UNIVERSITY TO BE HELD VIRTUALLY AGAIN

PAUL/ANCHOR: With Hamvention being held virtually again this year, there are two programs figuring prominently on the calendar. We hear about them from Stephen Kinford N8WB.

STEPHEN: Hamvention's Contest University will be held virtually again this year, just like Hamvention itself. Classes get under way at 9 a.m. Eastern Time, or 1300 UTC, Thursday May 20th on Zoom. Registration is free and you can start signing up from the 20th of April.

Please check contestuniversity.com for updates and a course outline.

Lessons of a different sort continue the next day as Hamvention's 2021 Award winners make 45-minute presentations followed by a Q&A – again, all conducted virtually on Zoom. Presenters are Newsline's science editor Tamitha Mulligan Skov (SKOVE) WX6SWW, winner of the Technical Achievement Award; Wesley Lamboley W3WL, winner of the Special Achievement Award; Angel Vazquez WP3R, Amateur of the Year; and the Vienna Wireless Society K4HTA Club of the Year.

Don't forget the Hamvention QSO Party on Saturday, May 22nd from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Stephen Kinford K8WB.

**

WORLD OF DX

Bodo, HB9EWU, is on the air in Zambia where he is on a humanitarian mission. He is using the call sign 9J2BG and is active on 20 meters. Send QSLs to HB9EWU, direct or by the Bureau. He is unsure of the length of his activation but will send QSL cards in 2022 when he returns to Switzerland.

Be listening for Alex PA1AW who will be using the special event call sign PA96WARD celebrating 'World Amateur Radio Day 2021 on the 18th of April. That date is the anniversary of the creation of the International amateur Radio Union in 1925 in Paris. Send QSLs to PA1AW.

**
KICKER: THE VAGABOND HAM

PAUL/ANCHOR: We end this week's news report with an invitation: On the occasion of World Amateur Radio Day on Sunday April 18th, we ask you to sit back, relax and think of what it means to be a ham radio operator. To help your thoughts along, we offer this poem by Ken Johnson W6NKE/SK, first published in 73 magazine in 1960. Sunil VU3ZAN brought it to the attention of Onno VK6FLAB. We thank Onno, who reads it here in this except from his weekly podcast "Foundations of Amateur Radio."

The Vagabond Ham, by Ken Johnson W6NKE (SK)

A vagabond's life is the life I live
Along with others, ready to give
A friendly laugh and a word of cheer
To each vagabond friend, both far and near.
I travel the air waves, day or night
To visit places I'll never sight
From the rail of a ship, or from a plane
Yet I'll visit them all again and again.
I never hear from a far off land
That my pulse doesn't quicken.
With careful hand I tune my receiver and VFO dial
To make a new friend and chat for awhile.
Africa, Asia, they're all quite near
In as easy reach as my radio gear
With the flip of a switch, the turn of a knob
I can work a ZL, a friend named Bob.
There's an LU4, a fellow that's grand
Who's described to me his native land
'Till I can hear the birds, and feel the breeze
As it blows from the slopes of the mighty Andes.
I learned of the surf, and a coral strand
The smell of hybiscus where palm trees stand
Neath a tropical moon, silver and bright
From an FO8 that I worked one night.
I've thrilled to the tales of night birds' screams
In the depths of the jungle where death-laden streams
Flow'neath verdant growth of browns and greens
From a DU6 in the Philippines.
The moors of Scotland, a little French Shrine,
German castles on the River Rhine
Of these things I've learned, over the air
Without ever leaving my ham shack chair.
There's a KL7 on top of the world
To whom the Northern Lights are a banner unfurled
That sweeps across the Arctic night
Makes the frozen sky a thing of delight.
Tales of silver and gold and precious stones
Ancient temples and molding bones
Where the natives, I'm told, are tall and tan
By an XE3 down in Yucatan.
My vagabond trips over the air
Will take me, well, just anywhere
Where other vagabonds and I will meet
From a tropical isle, to a city street
My vagabond's life will continue, I know
Through the fabulous hobby of ham radio
And one day from out at the world's end
We'll meet on the air, my Vagabond friend.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

FRIDAY EDITION: RIP Prince Phillip, almost made 100....Refueling B-52s in the sky is hard, so the Air Force is trying VR simulators .....Everthing you wanted to know about the three stooges.....

What makes Amateur Radio Direction Finding a sport?  To really understand ARDF, you need to know the basics of how radios work.

Radio transmitters release radio waves that are then picked up by radio receivers (the antenna used by ARDF athletes). These transmitters and receivers are usually designed to work within a pre-specified set of frequencies, measured in hertz. Two of the major ARDF competitions require tracking down transmitters attuned to one of two frequencies: 3.5 megahertz (also called an 80-meter competition) or 144 megahertz (also called a 2-meter competition).

Each frequency creates a different flavor of competition, explains Ole Garpestad. He is the vice president of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), an international governing body for ham radio operators. Garpestad has been presiding over the Amateur Radio Direction Finding World Championships since the first one was organized in the 1980s.

The 3.5 megahertz competitions require receivers with large antennas. Those are cumbersome to run with (people get around this by building them out of flexible materials that can move through brush, like tape measures), but they provide steady and accurate signals that make navigating easier.

“It’s good for a starter,” Garpestad tells Inverse. “It’s even better for a fast runner.”

The 144 megahertz waves don’t pass through large objects and instead might be reflected around the forest. Each one of those reflections is about 60 to 70 percent accurate, but following any one signal with too much confidence can lead a competitor down a false trail. This can even happen to seasoned competitors, like Joseph Huberman, an ARDF athlete from Raleigh, North Carolina, who has competed in five World Championships.  COMPLETE ARTICLE

March 2021 Volunteer Monitor Program Report

Traditional Amateur Radio Contesting Faces a Demographic Cliff

YOTA Contest May 22 is open to all

YOTA is proud to announce a new YOTA themed contest! It's open to ALL radio amateurs and YOTA stations are worth more points

The first session in 2021 will be held on Saturday, May 22 from 0800-1959 GMT, see details at
https://ham-yota.com/contest

THURSDAY EDITION: Good morning hamdom....AN ESP32 Walkie-Talkie, For Those Spy Radio Moments ...DIY Wind Turbine looks like a fun idea....Facebook may have leaked your personal info....

Amateur Radio Community Invited to Take Part in MARS Exercise on 60 Meters

2017-18 charges for German radio hams

Germany's Federal Network Agency BNetzA will be billing radio amateurs for 34.52 Euros to cover the cost of providing services in 2017 and 2018

A translation of the DARC post says:

On March 30, the twelfth ordinance amending the Frequency Protection Contribution Ordinance was published in the Federal Law Gazette. This set out the TKG [Telecommunications Act] and EMVG [Electromagnetic Compatibility of Equipment Act] contributions for 2017 and 2018.

For 2017 (2018), € 5.75 (€ 2.20) TKG and € 12.98 (€ 13.59) EMVG contributions were set, totaling € 18.73 (€ 15.79). So for both years there is a total of € 34.52. Radio amateurs who were assigned a call sign in both years will therefore receive a bill for € 34.52.  Abut 40 bucks in our currency...

 

WEDNESDAY EDITION: I have been notified that two of the hidden girls on the page were duplicates, I blame it on old age and memory loss. I will speak to the staff!....Yaesu FTDX-10 Menu and Feature Overview with W9FFF Ham Radio Dude ...LG will no longer make smartphones After months of speculation, LG finally confirmed the death of its smartphone business. ...Rumors in the tech world....

THE SOLAR WIND IS COMING: A solar wind stream is approaching Earth, due today or tomorrow. The gaseous material is flowing from a southern hole in the sun's atmosphere. NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft sampled the stream last week; it was blowing 500 km/s. This kind of stream is unlikely to cause a geomagnetic storm, but it could boost auroras around the Arctic Circle. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.

100 DAYS OF SUNSPOTS: Are you dissatisfied by the sunspot number? Soumyadeep Mukherjeee of Kolkata, India, has found an optimistic way to look at young Solar Cycle 25. Add together a hundred days of sunspot activity:

"I imaged the sun for 100 days in a row, from 25th December 2020 to 3rd April 2021," says Mukherjeee. "This image is a blend showing every sunspot that has appeared on the solar disk over these 100 days. There were a total of 19 active regions."

His composite shows that sunspot activity is clustered in two narrow bands approximately 25 degrees north and south of the sun's equator, respectively. This is typical of young solar cycles. As Solar Cycle 25 matures, the bands will converge toward the equator, and become more densely populated. By the time Solar Maximum arrives in 2025 (that's the official NOAA prediction), 100-day composites should be very congested, indeed.

DARC say CW is most popular mode

Germany's DARC have released statistics for 2020 showing the breakdown of the DARC Community Logbook (DCL) by mode, it says CW made up 51% of all contacts

A translation of the DARC post reads:

Unlike the recently published Club Log statistics, according to which amateur radio apparently only takes place in FT8, the survey by transmission type for the DARC Community Logbook (DCL) says something different:

In roughly the same comparison period, 51% of the DCL QSOs were in CW, 35% in SSB, 12% in FT8, 1% in FT4 and 1% in RTTY.

This roughly corresponds to the distribution of the contacts for the special calls DF7Ø / DP7Ø / DK7ØDARC, DM3ØRSV and most recently DL21EURO.

Further information on the DCL can be found at:
https://www.dxhf.darc.de/~dcl

TUESDAY EDITION: Taking the xyl for her Covid shot over at the Elks in Gloucester and I will take her upstairs for lunch in the members lounge/grill afterwards. The Elks bought this former night club/function halls in bankruptcy, nicest Elks lodge in the northeast, right smack on the ocean. ......Renewing your ham license on line.....7% of US population does not use the internet, wtf.....Anyone try the Russian Covid vaccine? Don't...Space stations going to private sector in the near future...

   

Email: Sorry for your loss..

Hi Jon,

MONDAY EDITION: AWT scans the internet for daily news, local and worldwide events, product reviews, hot spots on the bands, etc. from dozens of web sites....Speaking of an interesting frequency to listen to, try 3844 most evenings. WARNING: If you are a liberal democrat you will be offended ...We are happy to announce that Jordan Sherer KN4CRD has been granted the 2021 Amateur Radio Software Award for the JS8Call application. For more information about this year's winner and to submit nominations for next year please visit https://arsaward.com . If you haven't heard about the JS8Call full-fledged weak-signal digital communication application be sure to check it out and give it a spin.....Conditions for obtaining a diploma In order to receive a "Space Legend" diploma ...

Was space weather the cause of the Titanic disaster?

Ship's impact with iceberg could, arguably, have been avoided

Space weather concerns the influence on the Earth’s magnetic field and upper atmosphere of events on the sun

VO1FN: The 144 MHz Trans-Atlantic SDR Monitoring Station

John Desmond EI7GL writes in his blog about the VO1FM monitoring station in St. Johns Newfoundland that will be listening for trans-Atlantic FT8 signals

The station is expected to start monitoring 144.174 MHz from the end of May.

Read John's post at
https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/04/vo1fn-144-mhz-trans-atlantic-sdr.html

Cyprus radio hams remove discriminatory language....here we go

sAt their AGM held on March 21, the Cyprus Amateur Radio Society (CARS) made changes to their Constitution to make it gender neutral as part of an effort to make the Society more welcoming to female members

The 2021 AGM was held online using the Microsoft Teams platform. Read the report at
https://www.cyhams.org/wp/?p=6476

EASTER EDITION: I always enjoy Easter, a low key dinner affair with just family.  I hope you enjoy the holiday, weather looks great!...Wreck of USS Johnston discovered 77 years after its sinking at the Battle of Leyte Gulf ...Slow travel, not on my bucket list....How about his couple who decided to have sex while skydiving....

Foundations of Amateur Radio

When you just have to try things ...

A little while ago I was gifted a new radio, well, new to me. A Kenwood TS-480HX. It's an all mode HF transceiver with 6m. Does 200 Watts, but you know me, I'm into QRP, low power, so I first had to figure out how to dial the transmitter down to 5 Watts and that was after figuring out how to feed the dual power supplies from one source and have the fuses work as expected.

When I received the radio, I took stock of all the bits that it was packed with, all complete, all the accessories, even the user manual was laminated. The previous owner, Walter VK6BCP (SK) whom I never met was an amateur after my own heart. I've talked about how he meticulously documented his alterations to a power supply for example.

Previously I've taken this radio on holidays to operate portable in a field day. The experience was underwhelming, in that I didn't hear anyone and nobody responded to my CQ calls. At the time I put it down to a poor antenna and unfamiliarity with the radio, despite reading the manual, well, at least scanning it.

Today I finally set some time aside to do some more testing. I decided that the first step would be to actually set it up in my shack, next to my trusty Yaesu FT-857d and see how it performs in comparison.

So, I plugged everything in, found a coax switch so I could switch the antenna between the two radios and learned that the audio connector that I've been using for digital modes on the Yaesu is actually compatible with the Kenwood. Now I need to make another adaptor for this radio, but in the meantime I can move the audio plug between radios when I swap.

In doing this I learnt a few things.

One is that there's plenty of scope for things to break.

For example, I was reaching over the desk to plug a connector into the coax switch when I leaned on the keyboard and touched the space bar. This caused the radio that I was working on to start its tuning cycle without an antenna connected. Fortunately I was using 5 Watts and I caught it within seconds, so no white smoke this time around.

It does remind me to turn off the radio when fiddling with connectors though. I'm embarrassed to report that I thought I'd learnt that lesson already, nothing like a refresher course in transmitter safety and dumb things not to do in the shack.

Then there was the thing about using remote control. In my naivety I thought that the connector that the Yaesu uses for computer control is also used on the Kenwood. Turns out that it isn't. Fortunately I read the manual before plugging that in.

The Yaesu has a specific digital mode with individual gain and filter characteristics, which seem to be completely lacking on the Kenwood.

I'm still attempting to learn the differences in receive performance between the two. I started this process by running WSJT-X and listening to WSPR or Weak Signal Propagation Reports and testing how both radios decode things. I cannot yet do this side-by-side, but for now I can swap and see signals coming in on either radio.

This is not the first time I've put a different radio on my desk to see how it works and it's not going to be the last time. What I'm looking to achieve is to swap over from the Yaesu to the Kenwood in my shack, so I can put the Yaesu back in the car and have a mobile shack operating again because I have to admit, I do miss that.

What kinds of testing regimes to you have when you're trying out a new radio? I'd love to hear your thoughts. My email address as always is cq@vk6flab.com.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

2021 World Amateur Radio Day is April 18

NASA to host virtual viewing of Orion Spacecraft drop test

Engineers will drop an 14,000-pounds test version of the Orion spacecraft into the Hydro Impact Basin at NASA's Langley Research Center's Landing and Impact Research Facility in Hampton, Virginia at 1:45 p.m. EDT Tuesday, April 6.

The test will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app and the agency’s website, and will livestream on multiple agency social media platforms, including the Facebook channels for Orion and Langley.

Participants include:

Debbie Korth, Orion Crew and Service Module manager, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Jacob Putnam, data analyst, NASA’s Langley Research Center

The public may ask questions on social media using #AskNASA.

Media may send questions to Kristyn Damadeo at kristyn.damadeo@nasa.gov.

This series of drop tests began March 23 to finalize computer models for loads and structures prior to the Artemis II flight test, NASA’s first mission with crew aboard Orion. Artemis II will carry astronauts around the Moon and back, paving the way to land the first woman and next man on the lunar surface and establish a sustainable presence at the Moon under the Artemis program. The current test series builds on previous tests and uses a configuration of the crew module based on the spacecraft’s final design.

For more information on Orion, visit:

www.nasa.gov/orion


ARCTIC DXPEDITION PACKS UP BENEATH NORTHERN LIGHTS

NEIL/ANCHOR: Our top story takes us to a frozen Arctic island, where the rewards of a physically grueling DXpedition included something even more than the thousands of contacts logged by the team. Graham Kemp VK4BB brings us that story.

GRAHAM: The RI0Q (R EYE ZERO Q) DXPeditioners have arrived back on the mainland following a challenging but successful activation of the rare Arctic IOTA, AS-152. The island, named Bol'shoy Begichev (BEG-i-chev) after its discoverer Nikifor Begichev in 1908, held many discoveries for the team during their one-week activation. Challenges included making a large part of the trip by snowmobile. Once they arrived on March 20th, they remained constantly vigilant for polar bears, wolves and incoming blizzards especially as they were setting up for operations.

By March 26th, as the activation was winding down, they were able to enter into their online diary that they'd logged 6,913 QSOs representing more than 4,000 unique callsigns.

Their departure came just as a blizzard was supposed to come blasting in. There was one event they did not miss, however, nor did they want to miss it — because it was spectacular. DXworld-net reported on its Twitter feed on March 27th: [quote] "The RI0Q team are already back on the mainland. As they left the island, the Northern Lights started to show. Looks like they left at the right time!" [endquote]

**
'LAST MAN STANDING' TRIBUTE WRAPS UP ACTIVATION

NEIL/ANCHOR: Congratulations to the activators of the "Last Man Standing" special event which went QRT on Wednesday March 30th. Starting on March 24th, the team logged more than 85,000 QSOs, contacting 1,850 counties in 50 states and 138 countries. There were 134 contacts using moonbounce –and yes, there were pileups. The multi-mode effort was also a multi-media one, featuring livestreaming of operators as they navigated pileups. Coordinated by Lou Maggio NO2C and Salli Rosato K2RYD of the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club and the show's executive producer John Amodeo AA6JA, it was an experience many of the dozens of operators in both the US and Canada said will remain with them even as the studio goes dark after the show's final day of production. "Last Man Standing" featured Tim Allen KK6OTD as Mike Baxter KA0XTT, and was celebrated for putting amateur radio in a positive light in the public eye.

**
IN-PERSON EXAMS TO RESUME IN UK

NEIL/ANCHOR: In the UK, the Radio Society of Great Britain has resumed booking in-person exams. Jeremy Boot G4NJH gives us those details.

JEREMY: Examiners in the UK have begun planning the resumption of exams for amateur radio candidates wishing to sit them in a club setting with in-person invigilation.

With this in mind, the Radio Society of Great Britain said it anticipates bookings for the in-person exams from club examination secretaries once the government has lifted all COVID-19 restrictions in their part of the UK. The booking process is expected to be more streamlined than previously. The remote invigilations, which began last year during the pandemic lockdown, will continue as an option.

Mandatory practical assessments at Foundation level will remain suspended until a review led by the Examinations Standards Committee and Exam and Syllabus Review Group can determine their long-term future, clarifying whether they should continue and, if so, in what form.
In yet another sign of post-COVID life in the UK, the RSGB Contest Committee began accepting portable entries in contests from stations in England, provided the stations strictly follow local COVID measures. England dropped its "Stay at Home" restriction on the 29th March, meaning portable operations can resume. The RSGB cautions however, that portable multi-operator entries must comprise people from the same households because vans, cars and tents are considered indoor environments and indoor mixing of households is still prohibited.

NEIL/ANCHOR: In other business that has caught Newsline's attention: Paul Devlin, G1SMP, the joint winner with the Radio Society of Great Britain of the 2020 Amateur Radio Newsline International Newsmaker of the year award for the "Get on the air to care" public campaign, is standing for election as a director of the RSGB board at the upcoming AGM in April. As there are two nominees for two positions, I think we can say Paul will be elected and we at Newsline would like to be the first to congratulate Paul and wish him well in his new role.

**
ALABAMA TORNADOES HIT HOME FOR ONE AMATEUR

NEIL/ANCHOR: In Alabama, where tornadoes raged through part of the landscape in late March, one radio amateur made an especially painful discovery about the importance of preparedness. Randy Sly W4XJ brings us that story.

RANDY: James Spann, WO4W, is no stranger to severe weather. As chief meteorologist for WBMA in Birmingham Alabama, he is a familiar TV face during tornado activations, always reminding viewers that they need a severe weather plan. If fact, when he and his wife built a new home a few years ago, they included a storm shelter

Last week, tornadoes and other severe weather pummeled the state, wrecking buildings and killing at least five people in one county. During his report on a long track of violent storms, he suddenly said, “What I’m doing is texting my wife to be sure she’s in the shelter..” He moved off camera with a co-worker taking over.

Rejoining less than 15 minutes later, he shared some bad news with viewers. His home was hit by a tornado.

“The reason I had to step out,” he explained, “we had major damage at my house. I had to be sure — My wife is okay, but the tornado came right through there and it’s not good. It’s bad. It’s bad.”

However, their preparedness made the difference. “My wife got the warning,” he said, “she had a plan, she was in the shelter and she’s fine.”

Then, Spann was back to work making sure others would be informed and safe too.
**

RECORDINGS AVAILABLE ONLINE FROM HAMSCI EVENT

NEIL/ANCHOR: If you missed the HamSCI virtual event which was livestreamed on March 19th and 20th, you can attend via YouTube where videorecordings of the workshops are now available. This is the second year HamSCI went virtual in response to the global pandemic. The free program, supported by the National Science Foundation and the University of Scranton, featured presenters on such topics as personal space weather stations, mid-latitude sporadic-E, weak signal VHF propagation and related topics.

WORLDWIDE BALLOON LAUNCHES MARK EQUINOX

NEIL/ANCHOR: Spring in the Northern Hemisphere isn't just about flowers waking up and starting to bloom. It's also about..... balloons! Mike Askins KE5CXP explains.

MIKE: When the medium altitude balloon launched by science teacher Jill Gravante took to the sky on March 20th from an upstate New York junior high school, the event was part of a wide-ranging celebration dispatching 14 such balloons, linking students and teachers involved in STEM activities worldwide. In what was called the Equinox Balloon Launch, each balloon carried a lightweight Skytracker APRS and WSPR payload, all solar-powered. They were launched from various spots in the US, Argentina and Australia on paths that, one week later, had them sailing over Siberia, China and South Africa. After the launch at Winburn Middle School in Kentucky, science teacher Jenny McCall and Ron Malinowski WX4GPS later tracked the balloon named "Bessie" over southern Siberia, heading into Mongolia. Although it's not spring in his part of the world, the launch even attracted involvement by Melbourne teacher Greg Hellard.

Bill Brown WB8ELK, the designer of the Skytracker technology, said the launches were coordinated by Washington State high school teacher Trevor MacDuff KS1LAS with help from Los Angeles science educator Joanne Michael KM6BWB. The enthusiasm, however, needed no coordination at all. In fact, Joanne posted on Facebook that befitting a project that involved students, it was a "textbook launch."

**
AUSTRALIAN REGULATOR SEEKS INPUT ON 5-YEAR PLAN

NEIL/ANCHOR: Do you have an opinion on radio spectrum use in Australia? The Australian Communications and Media Authority wants to hear from you. Here's John Williams VK4JJW.

JOHN: The ACMA is looking for input on a draft of its five-year spectrum plan, a key document that will guide its priorities in allocating and managing frequencies in the years ahead. The proposed changes are being drawn up in consultation with members of the telecommunications industry, radio hobbyists and others in the community. This is the first such draft to be created under the Radiocommunications Legislation Amendment (Reform and Modernisation) Act 2020.

Priorites are expected to be heavily impacted by the ACMA's goal to support deployment of 5G services throughout Australia. A review is also ongoing to replace apparatus licences with non-assigned amateur licensing arrangements as a way of keeping licensees' costs affordable and to reduce the burden on regulators. The ACMA has a number of options for replacing the current apparatus licence but prefers the establishment of non-assigned amateur and outpost stations under a class licence. The agency also plans to review the prospect of creating licences for higher-power operations and intends to consult with the amateur community on this issue.

Feedback may be submitted to the ACMA no later than April the 28th.

**
UTAH AMATEURS CELEBRATE CENTENNIAL

NEIL/ANCHOR: The Ogden Amateur Radio Club, one of Utah's oldest ham radio clubs, bears the call sign of its founder Dr. W. Glen Garner W7SU. He became its first president shortly after its founding 100 years ago this May.

The club is marking its centennial with an array of activities, including a special event station in May and a centennial QSL card contest for its members. Newsline congratulates the Ogden amateurs on 100 great years.

**
IARU REGION 1 EYES INVOLVEMENT BY YOUNGER GENERATION

NEIL/ANCHOR: IARU Region 1 is assessing its future and hoping for a younger perspective. Here's Ed Durrant DD5LP to tell us what's up next.

ED: Faced with eroding enrollment in many of its member societies, IARU Region 1 has begun organising a workshop on keeping amateur radio vibrant as its licensees age. Discussions about the workshop were held at its General Conference on March 24. The workshop itself will be held in October of this year, hosted by the Serbian Amateur Radio Society. If COVID restrictions are still in place at the time, the workshop will be conducted virtually instead.

Participants are particularly concerned about the lack of top leadership among amateurs 35 and younger. The committee wrote on the IARU website: [quote] "The IARU Region 1 Executive Committee shares that it’s time for change and we need to start moving forward. Working together and changing the current trends. We need to focus our thinking and way of operating." [endquote]

**
MISSILE RANGE DEEMED VULNERABLE TO INTERFERENCE

NEIL/ANCHOR: RF control links being used at 420 and 430 MHz to set up a linked repeater system in New Mexico are being cited as potential sources of interference to critical systems at the nearby White Sands Missile Range, the largest open air test range of the United States Department of Defense. The department's Regional Spectrum Coordinator, the FCC and the ARRL worked together to track down the amateur radio communications, which were discovered to come from the repeater system's RF control links on 70 centimetres. Amateur radio is a secondary service on the band. The owners of the control links have been asked to re-coordinate the frequencies by May 31st.

(SOUTHGATE, ARRL)

**
NEW ZEALAND YOUTH NET EXPANDS ITS REACH

NEIL/ANCHOR: A popular net among the youngest amateurs in New Zealand just got a little bigger and a little more ambitious. Jim Meachen ZL2BHF tells us how they're growing.

JIM: Like everything that starts out in life young and small, the net formerly known as Young Transmitters New Zealand has grown up. It has rebranded and expanded to become the YOTA Oceania Net. The net's founder Thomas Bernard ZL3TOM announced the change in a recent newsletter, telling Newsline that the net is now run in partnership with Youngsters on the Air, recognising that participants hope to connect with other hams in more regions than before. The net is held Mondays at 0600 UTC on All-Star and Echolink. Tom uses the special event callsign ZL6YOTA during the net to encourage more young amateurs to check in.

For more information about the net and ways to join this growing community, visit his website at zl3tom dot com [zl3tom.com]

**
WORLD OF DX

In the world of DX, Matthew M0ZMS has announced he will be heading to the Falkland Islands at the end of April and hopes to get on the air from this rare DX using the call sign VP8ZMS. He may also use the call sign VP8RAF on occasion. Matthew will be promoting awareness of the Royal Air Force Amateur Radio Society. Matthew is the serving members' representative of the society and will be deploying to the British Forces South Atlantic Islands, Mount Pleasant Complex for the activation. Find his operating details and other information on the Twitter page for VP8ZMS. He will QSL on LoTW and ClubLog and will issue paper QSL cards upon his return to the UK after August.

Be listening for John, MW1CFN, operating as GB ONE ZERO ZERO FOUR FTS (GB1004FTS) from Anglesey Island off the Welsh mainland's northwest coast until April 8th. He is marking the 100th anniversary of the Royal Air Force's Number 4 Flying Training School. Listen for him on various HF bands as well as 6 and 2 metres. He will be using SSB and the Digital modes. Send QSLs directly to his home call.

Danish radio amateurs are active with two special callsigns OZ75BO and OZ75MAY until April 11th to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Bornholm Island following the end of World War II. Be listening on all bands, including the WARC bands, where operators will be using CW, SSB and all the Digital modes. Operators on the island itself will be using the OZ75BO call. Send QSLs via OZ1ACB or ClubLog's OQRS. Operators prefer to NOT receive a paper QSL card. A special award is available.

**
KICKER: HELPING HIS ALMA MATER GET BACK ON THE AIR

NEIL/ANCHOR: We end this week with the story of a grateful graduate of an Indiana college. He and his wife have given the school the gift of amateur radio. Here's Dave Parks WB8ODF with that story.

DAVE: Bill Becher AA8RW may have graduated from college in Indiana in 1950 but to a small group of undergrads studying there now, he is indisputably the Big Man on Campus. During Bill's time as an radio engineering student, the Angola, Indiana school was known as Tri-State College. Today its name is Trine University and its campus is where the Michigan resident and his wife Helen KG8TQ recently helped awaken the students' amateur radio club from dormancy by donating money and equipment.

Many of the 15 members are studying electrical engineering, as Bill did, or other forms of engineering and information technology. When they're not tending to their academic obligations they're hosting the weekly net of the Trine University Amateur Radio Club. According to the university's website, the young hams are also mentoring would-be licensees and building new equipment and antennas.

The club's president Tim Mayer KD2TCP, licensed for two years and majoring in mechanical engineering, said the club also hopes to get involved next in EME and satellite communications.

The students can look forward to aiming for the sky because of a generous husband and wife who never forgot the thrill of keying the mic, or sending some CW and discovering the world.

Said faculty advisor Kevin Woolverton KW9S: "Without them, it wouldn't have been possible to start and continue."

FRIDAY EDITION: Guns, knives, and the Media, FBI Data: 5 Times More People Killed By Knives Than Rifles Last Year ...Opening day for Red Sox, big deal after last years embarrasdment...I have been watching Swamp People on TV, have you checked out "Pickle"? You have to see her in action....Is GM trying to get rid of the Buick? It is powered by a Chevy engine, frame, and body parts and rebadged as a Buick. Remember when Olds, Pontiac, and Buick had their own performance engines? Buick had a nailhead engine that could be souped up....NASA is now going to spy on Jupiter's moon for possibe life, our tax dollar at work....

NRRL hosts digital HamConvention from April 18-26

Norway's national amateur radio society the NRRL is hosting a digital HamConvention. There will be interesting and exciting digital lectures over the eight days

A translation reads:

In connection with this year's digital general meeting, NRRL is arranging a digital HamConvention.

We will browse. get product presentations from several of the Norwegian suppliers of radio amateur equipment, where we get to demonstrate exciting news on the equipment front.

Of course, there will also be radio amateur lectures where we will get mental replenishment from Norwegian speakers with cutting-edge expertise from various fields within the radio amateur hobby.

Here are examples of some of what the lectures will contain:

 We will get close to NRRL's efforts during the rescue operation after the landslide at Gjerdrum
 An Nkom representative will give a current lecture
 We will see how a Norwegian DX expedition plans and conducts an expedition to an exciting destination.
 Lecture on wave propagation and propagation
 Lectures related to VHF, UHF and SHF activities
 With more…

At the time of writing, the program is being worked on intensively and not everything has been determined, so changes may occur. But that it will be a lot of excitement is beyond any doubt.

Information about the program will be announced on www.nrrl.no and via QST-LA. Stay tuned!

Celebrate World Amateur Radio Day 2021 on April 18

Sunday, April 18, is World Amateur Radio Day (WARD). This year marks the 96th anniversary of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), founded at the 1925 International Radiotelegraph Conference in Paris.

ARRL cofounder and first president, Hiram Percy Maxim, 1AW, was there, and today, ARRL is the International Secretariat of the IARU. ARRL has resources that members can use to celebrate WARD, including graphics for social media posts and radio club websites, as well as a printable flyer.

IARU has chosen “Amateur Radio: Home but Never Alone” as the theme for WARD 2021. The theme acknowledges that during our physical distancing to reduce the spread of COVID-19, amateur radio stands out as a welcome respite for its variety of activities and opportunities.

Amateur radio experimenters were the first to discover that the HF spectrum was not the wasteland experts of that time considered it to be, but a resource that could support worldwide communication. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, amateur radio was “in grave danger of being pushed aside,” IARU history has noted, prompting the founding of the IARU.

At the 1927 International Radiotelegraph Convention, amateur radio gained allocations still recognized today — 160, 80, 40, 20, and 10 meters. Over the years, the IARU has worked to give all radio amateurs new bands at 136 kHz, 472 kHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 18 MHz, 24 MHz, and 50 MHz, and a regional European allocation at 70 MHz, and IARU defends those allocations.

The 25 countries that formed the IARU in 1925 have grown to include more than 160 member-societies in three regions. IARU Region 1 includes Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and North Asia. Region 2 covers the Americas, and Region 3 is comprised of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific island nations, and most of Asia. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has recognized the IARU as representing the interests of amateur radio.

Read the full ARRL article at
http://www.arrl.org/news/celebrate-world-amateur-radio-day-2021-on-april-18

THURSDAY EDITION: Researchers just linked three atomic clocks, and it could change the future of timekeeping ...Scientists stuck grizzly bears on treadmills and confirmed they hate hills as much as we do A new study helps explain why bear sightings are so common on hiking trails. Thank God some politician added this to the stimulus bill...Academic research published last week looked at the telemetry traffic sent by modern iOS and Android devices back to Apple and Google servers and found that Google collects around 20 times more telemetry data from Android devices than Apple from iOS.

NEARFEST RAISES PRICES FOR OCTOBER FEST

We will be raising the cost of admission to $15.00 at the gate effective October 15th, 2021, so advance purchasers will save $5.00 per ticket. We have a limited number of advance tickets and when they sell out those who waited will have to buy them at the Fairgrounds when they arrive.  You may buy as many tickets as you want. 

As an added incentive to buy tickets in advance we will be holding a special door prize drawing for advance ticket buyers for an Xiegu G90 HF 20W SDR transceiver valued at “around $500.00.” To ensure that you are eligible by buying your tickets in advance.  This special drawing will take place at a time and location to be determined, probably at a radio flea market or other such publicly attended event prior to the opening of the gate at Deerfield.  The winner will not have to to be present at the drawing to win. 

Please mail your ticket orders to NEAR-Fest, 316 Atlantic Avenue, Marblehead MA 01945-2730.  Send $10.00 per ticket and $10.00 for each vehicle pass along with a self-addressed stamped envelope.  Make check or money order payable to the New England Amateur Radio Festival, Inc.  Please do not send cash in the mail.

World Amateur Radio Day (WARD) 2021 is Sunday, April 18.

WEDNESDAY EDITION: Another day another dollar....Watch A Saudi F-15 Fighter Swoop In Low To Blast A Houthi Rebel Drone Out Of The Sky ....Having solved homeless vets problems, Covid 19, and runaway inflation, we now piss away money on NASA's Metal Mission- Final Assembly of Psyche Spacecraft Begins - Destined to Explore a Metal-Rich Asteroid ....I was one of those dopes that paid every cent of my boys college education....

Botswana DXpedition now QRT

The Russian team continued to be active as A25RU from Botswana near Gaborone until March 28th (QRT March 29th).

Activity has been on various HF bands (160-10m; NO 60m) and QO-100 SAT (depends on propagation) with the priority to most distant regions (NA and ASIA), using CW, SSB and FT8 (F/H) modes.

They reported that they have logged more than 1000 QSOs on Top-band.
Total QSOs count as of March 25th, is 30,670 Qs with 9329 Unique callsigns.
Breakdown count by mode: 11863/CW, 603/SSB and 18204/FT8.\
Breakdown by Continent (%): 1.1/AF, 15.3/AS, 61.2/EU, 19.9/NA, 0.6/OC and 1.9/SA.

QSL via R7AL, ClubLog's OQRS, direct, by the Bureau or LoTW. ClubLog's OQRS for QSL ordering will enabled
after the end of expedition.

For more details and updates, see: https://rv6ali.wixsite.com/botswana2021

TUESDAY EDITION: Nice out today, good day for a little shooting with my grandson....Can I Use My HT From a Tornado Safe Room? ....Brand new from Wouxun is the KG-UV8H Handheld, which features a different screen than earlier models, an 8-watt output power, and a 3200mAH battery. Let’s take a look at the features of this new HT....This rifle was Eugene Stoner’s replacement for the M16 ....7 crazy things the Coast Guard did during World War II ....

Why we need to get better at predicting space weather

The sun is the most important source of energy for sustaining life on Earth, but it gives us a lot more than just light and heat. It also gives us solar storms.

Disturbances on the sun, such as coronal mass ejections produced by solar flares that emanate from active sunspot regions, can cause solar storms. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections emit vast quantities of radiation and charged particles into space.

These events can damage the Earth's communication and power infrastructures, resulting in power outages and reduced system functionality. Satellites, space stations and astronauts, aviation, GPS, power grids and more can be affected.

As our civilisation becomes more advanced, we become more vulnerable to the effects of solar storms. Now, as the sun's activity is on the increase, we need to get better at predicting solar weather.

Many people still remember the collapse of Canada's Quebec electrical grid on 13 March 1989, which lasted for nine hours and affected six million people. It caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and lost revenues. This blackout was caused by solar storms.

The Carrington Event, named for the amateur astronomer who recorded it, was another powerful solar storm which happened in September 1859. Cutting edge technology in 1859 was limited to electrical telegraphs, and most of those failed all over Europe and North America, in some cases giving their operators electric shocks.

These days, we're much more reliant on technology, which is in turn increasingly vulnerable to the effects of space and its unique natural disasters.   READ MORE

The latest edition of The 5 MHz Newsletter is now available for download

Hi All, 

The latest edition of The 5 MHz Newsletter (No 26 –Spring 2021) is now available for free pdf download from the ‘External Links’ section of the Wikipedia 60m Band page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60-meter_band#External_links

or the RSGB 5 MHz page 
http://rsgb.org/main/operating/band-plans/hf/5mhz/

This edition includes 5 MHz news from 4 countries, MARS on 5 MHz! The SARL Worked All ZS 5 MHz Award, the latest World of 5 MHz Map, Useful Websites for 5 MHz, Readers Feedback and CQ Serenade.

Enjoy, Keep Safe,

Paul Gaskell G4MWO
Editor
The 5 MHz Newsletter

New Mini Spiderpoles

We are pleased to announce two new Mini Spiderpole telescopic Antenna poles from Spiderbeam Germany.

These smaller sizes, 10 metre and 7 metre, plus an optional carrying case, make them ideal for outdoor or portable operations.

Although they are light and small enough to fit in any suitcase, they are developed to be rugged and durable!

These Mini poles use a fixed screw bottom cap which is flat and padded inside. This gives the pole a stable stand and prevents the mast from unwanted extraction while hiking.

Spiderbeam fibreglass poles are extremely strong, with a much greater wall thickness than the usual "fishing rod" types.

A special reinforcing winding technique - several layers of fiberglass are wound in alternating direction providing greatly increased lateral and linear strength. Stronger joints are achieved by a much larger overlap between the individual tube segments than usual.

Prices start at £59.95 with the optional carrying case priced at £14.95

The new Spider poles are available from UK distributor NEVADA Radio    www.nevadaradio.co.uk

 

MONDAY EDITION: Wild here this morning on the Isle of Cape Ann gusting over 55mph........Commencement of shortwave propagation simulator (HF-START) service Demonstrating radio wave propagation paths between any two points based on real-time space weather information ...He's a cop. He's 91. And he has no plans to retire ....You have to be shitting me. Top Paid LA Lifeguards Earned Up To $392,000 In 2019 ...Dodge offers software to stop the thefts of the 392 hemi powered cars....

Inexpensive High Quality Ceramic Insulators for Antennas

French amateur radio training videos

REF reports F6KUQ has made available a series of short videos specifically intended for people preparing for the amateur radio exam

A topic is covered each time and the goal is that after working with the video, the student knows how to answer new exam questions.

This is not a theoretical course, the entire program is not covered, nor all of the concepts. The explanations are intended for the complete beginner and exercises can be offered during the video. In addition to the videos, the site offers training exercises specific to the lesson of the day.

http://f6kuq.ref.org/formation/video/

The Exam1 site

We no longer present the PC / Windows Exam'1 software, designed by René F5AXG which allows training to pass the amateur radio operator certificate.
Jérémy F4HKA developed in September 2015 an Android version, more practical and more modern.

Today, the PC version can no longer be modified and Jérémy F4HKA no longer has the time to devote to improving his application. Valentin F4HVV, from the same radio club as Jérémy F4HKA (ADRI38, F5KGA), has decided to take up this project to make it more accessible to all those
who wish to prepare for the amateur radio operator certificate. Valentin has therefore developed a web application that works on all media (computers, smartphones and tablets) thanks to your browser. The only constraint: having an Internet connection ...

The interface has been modernized by taking inspiration from the sober and simple design that Google puts forward, see

https://exam1.ref.org/accueil

FT8 most popular amateur radio mode.....not here!

The ClubLog Blog reports that FT8 contacts made up an impressive 84% of the 1,777,945 amateur radio contacts for the 50 MHz band recorded on ClubLog between March 1, 2020 and March 26, 2021

Michael Wells G7VJR notes "With the often sporadic nature of the openings on 6m, it’s easy to see the upsides of all the activity being easy to find in a narrow segment of the band, and of course the signal-to-noise advantage of the mode is attractive."
https://g7vjr.org/2021/03/ft8-and-the-6m-band/

However, on other bands FT8 is not quite so popular, across all the bands FT8 only accounted for 51% of the 66.4 million contacts recorded during 2020, see the pie chart at
https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/03/latest-stats-from-clublog-website-show.html